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Combating Ebola in Liberia

Liberia

A health worker has his protective suit sprayed with chlorine disinfectant after moving a corpse infected with Ebola virus in Monrovia, Liberia, Oct. 13, 2014.

Credit: James Giahyue/Reuters

Liberia

A man walks by a mural that reads "Symptoms of Ebola" in Monrovia, Liberia, Oct. 12, 2014.

Ebola, a hemorrhagic fever, has killed more than 4,000 people since March in an epidemic centered around Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

Credit: James Giahyue/Reuters

Liberia

Liberian army (R), and U.S. Marine engineers take cover from the downdraft of a Marine MS-22 Osprey tiltrotor in Tubmanburg, Liberia, Oct. 11, 2014.

Liberian army soldiers and American troops are building an Ebola treatment center there, the first of 17 to be built nationwide, as part of the U.S. response to the epidemic.

The World Health Organization says that the Ebola epidemic has killed more than 4,000 people in West Africa.

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Liberia

An Ebola burial team, dressed in protective clothing, carries the body of a woman, 54, from the bedroom where she died in the New Kru Town suburb of Monrovia, Liberia, Oct. 10, 2014.

Credit: John Moore/Getty Images

Liberia

An Ebola burial team dresses in protective clothing before collecting the body of a woman, 54, from her home in the New Kru Town suburb of Monrovia, Liberia, Oct. 10, 2014.

Credit: John Moore/Getty Images

Liberia

An Ebola burial team, dressed in protective clothing, carries the body of a woman, 54, while passing a bucket of chlorinated water for hand washing in the New Kru Town suburb of Monrovia, Liberia, Oct. 10, 2014.

Frequent hand washing is one of the main safeguards against contracting Ebola, which is transmitted through bodily fluids.

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Liberia

Varney Jonson, 46, grieves as an Ebola burial team takes away the body of his wife, Nama Fambule, for cremation, Oct. 10, 2014 in Monrovia, Liberia.

He and his family said that she had been sick for more than a year with an undiagnosed illness and protested her body being taken away as an Ebola victim.

The burial of loved ones is important in Liberian culture, making the removal of infected bodies for cremation all the more traumatic for surviving family members.

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Liberia

A woman collapses after the body of her sister was taken by an Ebola burial team for cremation, in Monrovia, Oct. 10, 2014.

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Liberia

A member of a burial team from the Liberian Red Cross sprays disinfectant over the body of an Ebola victim in his home, Oct. 8, 2014, near Monrovia, Liberia.

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Liberia

Ibrahim Sorie Kamara looks after his child as they await transport to the holding center in the Port Loko Government Hospital for those suspected of having the Ebola virus, at the balcony of a community center in Foredugu, Port Loko District, Oct. 8, 2014.

Kamara's wife and other family members, also suspected of having the virus, had passed away the day before.

More than 4,000 people have died of the viral fever in West Africa, mostly in Liberia, neighbouring Sierra Leone and Guinea.

Credit: Christopher Black/WHO/Reuters

Liberia

A burial team from the Liberian Red Cross prays before collecting the body of an Ebola victim from his home, Oct. 8, 2014, near Monrovia, Liberia.

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Liberia

U.S. Navy microbiologist Lt. Jimmy Regeimbal prepares to test blood samples for Ebola at the U.S. Navy mobile laboratory near Gbarnga in Bong County of central Liberia, Oct. 7, 2014.

Credit: John Moore/Getty Images

Liberia

Grave diggers prepare for new Ebola victims outside an Ebola treatment center near Gbarnga, in Bong County in central Liberia, Oct. 7, 2014.

The 70-bed facility is run by the U.S.-based International Medical Corps and supported by USAID.

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Liberia

U.S. Navy microbiologist Lt. Jimmy Regeimbal handles a vaccine box with blood samples while testing for Ebola at the U.S. Navy mobile laboratory, near Gbarnga, Liberia, Oct. 5, 2014.

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Liberia

Relatives pray over a weak Siata Johnson, 23, outside the Ebola treatment center at the Island Hospital on the outskirts of Monrovia, Liberia, Oct. 6, 2014.

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Liberia

A Doctors Without Borders (MSF), health worker in protective clothing carries a child suspected of having Ebola in the MSF treatment center, in Paynesville, Liberia, Oct. 5, 2014.

The girl and her mother, showing symptoms of the deadly disease, were awaiting test results for the virus.

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Liberia

Residents of an Ebola affected township wait in line before dawn to receive family and home disinfection kits distributed by Doctors Without Borders (MSF), in New Kru Town, Liberia, Oct. 4, 2014.

MSF gave out thousands of the kits in early morning distributions, some of 50,000 such "Ebola kits" to be given to families throughout the capital area.

The kits, which include buckets, soap, gloves, anti-contamination gowns, plastic bags, a spray bottle and masks, are meant to give people some level of protection if a family member becomes sick, possibly from Ebola.

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Liberia

A World Health Organization (WHO), instructor speaks with new health workers during a training session in Monrovia, Liberia, Oct. 3, 2014.

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Liberia

A Liberian health worker dressed in an anti-contamination suit speaks with a boy at a center for suspected Ebola patients, formerly the maternity ward at Redemption Hospital in Monrovia, Liberia, Oct. 3, 2014.

People at the center are tested for Ebola and if the results are positive, are sent to an Ebola treatment unit (ETU).

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Liberia

A member of the Church of Aladura prays on the beach in Monrovia, Liberia, Aug. 20, 2014.

He and other church members said they were praying for God to rescue Liberia from its current crisis. The Ebola virus has killed more than 1,200 people in four African nations, with more in Liberia than any other country.

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Liberia

A Liberian Army soldier, part of the Ebola Task Force, beats a local resident while enforcing a quarantine on the West Point slum in Monrovia, Liberia, Aug. 20, 2014.

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Liberia

Liberian security forces, part of the country's Ebola Task Force, enforce a quarantine on the West Point slum of Monrovia, Liberia, Aug. 21, 2014.

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Liberia

A man covers a very sick Saah Exco, 10, in a back alley of the West Point slum of Monrovia, Liberia, Aug. 19, 2014.

The boy was one of the patients that was pulled out of a holding center for suspected Ebola patients when the facility was breached by protestors.

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Liberia

A Liberian burial team carefully puts on protective clothing before retrieving the body of an Ebola victim from his home near Monrovia, Liberia, Aug. 17, 2014.

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Liberia

A Liberian burial team wearing protective clothing retrieves the body of a 60-year-old Ebola victim in his home near Monrovia, Liberia, Aug. 17, 2014.

Liberia

Liberia

Hanah Siafa lies with her daughter Josephine, 10, while hoping to enter the new Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Ebola treatment center on August 17, 2014 in Monrovia, Liberia.

Credit: John Moore/Getty Images

Liberia

Liberian police depart after firing shots in the air while trying to protect an Ebola burial team in the West Point slum in Monrovia, Liberia, Aug. 16, 2014.

A crowd of several hundred local residents, chanting, "No Ebola in West Point," drove away the burial team and their police escort.

The mob then forced open an Ebola isolation ward and took the patients out, many saying that the Ebola epidemic is a hoax. The isolation center, a closed primary school originally built by USAID, was being used by the Liberian health ministry to temporarily isolate people suspected of carrying the virus. Some 10 patients had "escaped" the building the night before, according to a nurse, as the center had no medicine to treat them.

Credit: John Moore/Getty Images

Liberia

People watch as a crowd protests before entering the grounds of an Ebola isolation center in the West Point slum in Monrovia, Liberia, Aug. 16, 2014.

A mob of several hundred people, chanting, "No Ebola in West Point," opened the gates and took out the patients, many saying that the Ebola epidemic is a hoax. Just moments before they drove off a burial team with police escort, who had tried to take away the bodies of four deceased residents from the neighborhood. The isolation center, a closed primary school originally built by USAID, was being used by the Liberian Health Ministry to temporarily isolate people suspected of carrying the virus.

Some 10 patients had "escaped" the building the night before, according to a nurse, as the center had no medicine to treat them.

Credit: John Moore/Getty Images

Liberia

A woman wipes her nose after protesters drove out an Ebola burial team who had come to collect the bodies of four people who had died overnight in the West Point slum in Monrovia, Liberia, Aug. 16, 2014.

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Liberia

A girl sits alone in a cinema in the West Point slum in Monrovia, Liberia, Aug. 15, 2014. The owner said that few people have come since the Ebola outbreak began.

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Liberia

A security guard looks over the impoverished West Point neighborhood of Monrovia, Liberia, Aug. 15, 2014. People in the area suspected of contracting the Ebola virus are being brought by health workers to a temporary isolation center - a closed primary school originally built by USAID, while larger facililities are being constructed to house the surging number of patients.

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Liberia

Andrew, 14, sits in his one-room home before being taken to an Ebola isolation ward on Aug. 15, 2014 in Monrovia, Liberia.

Credit: John Moore/Getty Images

Liberia

A mother and child stand atop their mattresses in a classroom now used as Ebola isolation ward in Monrovia, Liberia, Aug. 15, 2014. People suspected of contracting the Ebola virus are being brought by Liberian health workers to the center, a closed primary school originally built by USAID, while larger facilities are being constructed to house the surging number of patients.

Credit: John Moore/Getty Images

Liberia

A Liberian health worker speaks with families in a classroom now used as Ebola isolation ward in Monrovia, Liberia, Aug. 15, 2014.

Credit: John Moore/Getty Images

Liberia

A woman cleans the day's catch in the impoverished seaside slum in Monrovia, Liberia, Aug. 15, 2014. Poor sanitation and close living quarters have contributed to the spread of the Ebola virus, which is transmitted through bodily fluids.

Credit: John Moore/Getty Images

Liberia

A sick child lies in a classroom now used as Ebola isolation ward in Monrovia, Liberia, Aug. 15, 2014.